Just because Ann Demeulemeester is so at one with her aesthetic she could easily design her collections in her sleep, doesn’t mean that she does. In all the years she’s learned to create something fresh each season while still satisfying her fans, and in fall 2013’s somber yet refined line-up that was truer than ever. As always her Paris fashion week show was a cohesive whole: a gauzy white curtain backdrop there for gowns to mimic and black feathers – protruding haphazardly from bowler hats – to stand out against; Nick Cave voicing appropriate prose as the soundtrack. I was riding home / The sun, the sun, the sun was rising from the field…

And something about the clean yet rustic simplicity of Demeulemeester’s looks did paint a picture of yellow grassy fields in a skyline broken only by a small weathered hut or a bare stone convent. The long lines and high collars could be almost puritanical. But then, other details like dip-dyed fringing and leather cummerbunds and bodices that pieced together like armour were not. A hint of sensuality is what makes an otherwise austere look so intriguing, as Demeulemeester well knows.

And regardless of those finer details, her strength is always in the way it all comes together: the way a silhouette is formed not from the cut of an individual piece but in the way mulitple pieces are layered together, the way the mood permeates everything from milky-white skin to purposeful lace-up boots. In Demeulemeester’s bigger picture of cleanness and refinement, every element has its place: but every element also has the potential to be worn with as much of a hard, dark edge as any fan wants it to be.

And some people say it’s just rock and roll / Ah but it gets you right down to your soul.

You can see all of the Ann Demeulemeesterautumn (fall) / winter 2013 runway collection by clicking on a thumbnail on the left. From there you can browse through each of the pictures from the fashion show.